Mystery surrounds the death of a 21-year-old Gladstone woman who was last seen leaving a popular nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Two Queensland Rail workers stumbled across the body of Kathryn Louise Daley in bushland off Meegan Road, Callemondah, about 1pm on Monday.

Police said she had suffered "severe trauma", but it was too early to tell whether she had been sexually assaulted.

The apprentice electrician was seen leaving the Player's Nightclub in Flinders Street about 4am on Sunday and is believed to have walked toward the nearby Mobil service station in the company of a mystery man.

Detective Inspector John Wacker said Ms Daley had gone to the club earlier with a group of friends and had been known to frequent the nightspot.

Police were following up on reports of a woman fitting Ms Daley's description walking towards the all-night service station with an unidentified male.

Her body was found in an industrial area of West Gladstone about 100m from a rim road and in close proximity to the power plant.

"The road is used by a lot of tradespeople and a lot of people also frequent the area to put crab pots in the river or go fishing," Detective Inspector Wacker said.

"The post-mortem is still continuing, so at this stage we're not releasing what injuries she sustained."

Ms Daley was part of a well-known local family and had been active with the local surf club since graduating from Tannum Sands High School, he said.

Her family was said to be "very distressed" by the news of her death.

Police have appealed for public assistance and believe someone may have seen Ms Daley before her death.

Ms Daley worked at Gladstone's Queensland Alumina Limited refinery.

Today, QAL Managing Director Johann Van Zyl sent a message to all employees informing workers of Ms Daley's death and expressing the company's condolences.

"Kathryn was a valued member of the QAL community and I express deepest sympathy and extend our condolences to her family and friends at this very difficult time." Mr Van Zyl said.

She last logged in to her MySpace website profile on February 16 when she uploaded a photograph of herself taken the day before.

Her mood was listed as 'rejected' and the page headline read: "Kat i always said that i would make mistakes... i'm only human and thats my saving grace".